Why Should I Complete A Home Inventory?

You have a lot to think about when a loss occurs the last thing you want to do is to forget something valuable or important that may have been damaged or lost due to a covered peril. When a loss occurs it is usually a very stressful time. First I would suggest reading my blog "Why Insurance Agents Worry About Their Clients...Stress". Immediately practice those techniques.

Most of the time when a loss occurs, the claim would be handled on the honor system. If you had a kitchen fire for example, a list of items damaged would be requested from the adjuster. Rather than sit there and try to remember everything you had, including its year make and model. It is much easier if you have something to reference.

We recommend before a loss occurs to take a picture of the room. You may need a couple to get the entire room. We also recommend taking a picture of open drawers or closets as well. This is a really nice visual reminder of what you have. We also recommend that you give a copy of these to your agent to keep on file for you. We store them electronically in our secure agency management system so we can reference them if necessary for you.

We also recommend a home inventory list. If you take photos and accompany those photos with a home inventory list you will be almost guaranteed to have everything. We have free home inventory checklist also available in our Free Reports section of our website available for immediate download at no cost or obligation. This checklist is pre-filled with standard items and leaves plenty of space to add items as well.

The Insurance Information Institute offers a free online storage system that you can sign up to use and can update it yourself once you create a username and password. I have not used this site personally and make no promises about its safety or security. However, with that said you can check it out and make your own determination. htttp://www.knowyourstuff.org

Just remember, If you make any new major purchases or upgrade existing items you will want to update your photo or inventory list. Whether you keep that with us or online. Also be sure to keep a copy of that offsite. Not just in your home, that kind of defeats the purpose. If you have an attorney give a copy to him or her as well.

Disasters and losses happen without warning. We want to make sure you are protected and prepared before a loss occurs.

If you have any questions, need help completing the form or would like us to maintain a confidential and secure copy for you, please feel free to contact me or one of our three locations.